Good morning.  Once again I would like to welcome and thank our guests for being here today, and we hope that you will enjoy our services this morning, and that you will consider coming back again.  Since today is Friends Day, I wanted to touch on the topic of friendship.

But before I do that, allow me to begin our time with a word of prayer.  Let’s Pray!

Some years ago Collier’s Magazine published a story about a little girl in an orphanage.  She was quite unattractive and had many annoying habits, which resulted in her being shunned by the children and disliked by the staff.  The director of the orphanage looked for a good excuse to ship her off to some other institution.

Now for some time it had been suspected that she was writing notes to people outside of the orphanage.  And then one afternoon their suspicions were confirmed.  One of the children had just reported, “I saw her write a note and hide it on a tree near the stone wall.”  The director hurried to the tree and found the note, then passed it silently to his assistant.  The note read, “To whoever finds this: I love you.”

Now, the application here is that everyone has a need to be loved.  Experts tell us that emotionally healthy people form meaningful ties with other human beings.  When they have important decisions to make, they get insight and support from their friends.

But those same experts are telling us that there is a disturbing trend going on lately.  In the June issue of the American Sociological Review, researchers cited evidence that Americans have a third fewer close friends than just a couple of decades ago.  More disturbing still, the data seemed to indicate that the number of people who have nobody to count as a close personal friend has more than doubled.  The findings hold for both men and women.  They are consistent for people of all races, all ages, and all levels of education.  All this information speaks of people who are feeling lonelier and more isolated than ever.

And that is why Jesus set His church up on the idea of loving one another:
Look at John 15:9-12 with me.  In that passage, it is talking about the love that Jesus has for us, and the love that we should share with one another.  John 15:9-12 says, “1”

You see, God knows the importance of friendship and so He built His church on that foundation.  The foundation of the church is that is to be a place where we could build meaningful friendships with others, and with God Himself.

So, if friendship is so critical, what does it look like?  What is a friend?  Someone once said, “Friends are God’s way of taking care of us.”  Someone else said, “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”  But perhaps the best definition was given by a young boy who says that, “A friend is a person who knows us, and still likes us.”

Here is what the book of Proverbs has to say about friends.  Proverbs 27:6 tells us that, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”  Proverbs 17:17 says that, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  And finally, Proverbs 18:2 tells us that, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Back in the 1980’s Sam Rayburn, Speaker for the House of Representatives, learned that one of his friends had just lost his teenage daughter.  Early the next morning Rayburn knocked on his door.  “I just came by to see what I could do to help.”  The father replied that there was nothing to do.  “Well,” Rayburn said, “have you had your coffee this morning?”  The man replied that they had not taken time for breakfast.  So Rayburn went to work in the kitchen.  While he was working on making breakfast, his friend came in, and said, “Mr. Speaker, I thought you were supposed to be having breakfast at the White House this morning.”  “Well, I was, but I called the President and told him I had a friend who was in trouble and I couldn’t come.”

Rayburn gave up something that few people ever get the opportunity to do, just so that he could be there for his friend when he needed him the most.  Giving up something special, to be there and be a good friend is what Christ has called us to.

That’s what the Bible means by friendship.  To have someone who regards you so highly that they want to be there when you need them the most.  So Jesus built His church upon this concept of friendship, of being there for each other through thick and thin.

The Bible repeatedly says that we should “be there” for one another.  We should “…encourage one another and build each other up...” as it tells us in I Thessalonians 5:11.

Then in Romans 12:10 it says that we should, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.”  And in Galatians 5:13 and 6:2 says that we should “… serve one another in love” to the point where we “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

So, Christ established His church so that we would have meaningful friendships and be able to love one another.  Now, for those of you who are here today as our guest, I just want to let you know that you have some real friends, because they have invited you here so that you would be able to experience this friendship, and hopefully be drawn closer to Christ as well.

But, there is a problem.  Even at our best, we don’t always love like we should:

Even the best intentioned person can fail.  Why, because we are not God.  No matter who we are or how long we’ve been in a relationship with God, we can’t always be there when people need us.  We can’t always be the best friend.  Sometimes, we can get distracted by our own personal agendas and schedules.  Sometimes, we can become inconsiderate and selfish at times.  And there are times when we can even get our feelings hurt and have a hard time loving each other.
Those shortcomings, can make it extremely difficult for us to be the kind of friends that God would want us to be.  But it’s not impossible.  In John 15:12 Jesus said, “Love one other as I have loved you.”

Jesus knows that we struggle sometimes to love each other as we should and so He told us to follow His example, to learn from Him, and to make it your life’s goal to be there for each other because He is there for you.

And that, of course, is the key advantage of Christianity:

You see, there are other organizations that have great fellowship.  Groups that don’t necessarily have God as their central focus.  But even they understand the importance of friendship.

I once heard of a group called the “Odd Fellows.”  They had a religious ritual they’d go thru during their monthly meetings.  There would be passwords and secret handshakes and they’d act out Old Testament stories and such.  But when the ritual was all done they focused on what they really came to do.  They’d retire to the dining area, eat cookies and drink punch and play cards.  You see, they had gotten together to have a good time together.  But as much as they, or any other organization might want to build friendships, they are going to fail once in a while.

And we need to realize that the same this is going to happen to us occasionally as well.  Even Christians will occasionally disappoint us.  Even the preacher, even the leaders, even the most upstanding member of the congregation … they’ll all fail us sooner or later.

But the good news is, JESUS WON’T:

In Hebrews 13:5 Jesus said, “I will never leave you; nor forsake you.”  And He told us in Matthew 11:28 that we could, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Peter understood that, and he wrote in I Peter 5:7 that you could, “Cast all your cares upon Him; because He cares for you.”  And in Romans 8:34 it declares, “Who is he that condemns?  Christ Jesus, who died— more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

If you are here today looking for a real friend.  If you are here today, and you do not have a relationship with Jesus, then let me tell you about Him.  Jesus will never forsake you.  He’ll always care for you.  And He’s always praying for you.  You’ll never have an earthly friend like Jesus.

Years ago, when Elvis Presley died, people all over the United States and the world were shocked at the passing of the one they called “The King.”

Following his death, there were a number of young men who told about how they had idolized Elvis and sought to imitate him.  One of these was a young man by the name of Dennis Wise, who actually had his face surgically altered and his hair contoured so he’d look exactly like Elvis.  He had learned to play the guitar and had even made a few dollars by appearing as a Presley look-alike.

When he was interviewed by one of the newspapers about his passion to be like Elvis Presley, this is what he said, “Yes, sir, Presley has been an idol of mine ever since I was 5 years old.  I have every record he ever made.  I have pictures in the thousands.  I have books, magazines, pillows, I even have a couple of books in German and Japanese about him.  I even have tree leaves from the front of his house.  It was embarrassing to me when I was in school for the kids were always teasing me.  When Elvis was wearing white boots I went out and bought white boots.  The kids called them “fruit boots.”  Teachers would always send me to the office because my 2 top buttons were unbuttoned.  I’d button them and then, when no one was looking, I’d unbutton them again.”

Wise goes on to say, “But I never got to meet Elvis Presley.  I saw him on the stage 4 times.  Once I tried to run up to the stage and once I stood on the wall of Graceland [the Presley mansion] and tried to see him.  For 12 hours I stood there trying to get a glimpse of him.  But he had so many people around him that I could never get close to him.”

Now, those words describe sheer idolatry, the longing to be intimate with some great person.  But, the most tragic part of Dennis Wise’ story are his last words, “I could never get close to him.”

You see, you’ll always have that problem with people.  Even the finest individuals… you can never really get CLOSE to them.  But you will never have that problem with Jesus, the real “King.”

I have personally learned how satisfying it is to have Jesus as my friend.  I have learned that He’s always there for me.  He’s always there when I need to talk.  He’s always been there when I needed guidance.  He’s been beside me when life has been good… and He was at my side when days became dark.  And so I would consider Jesus to be a friend of mine.  My question for you this morning is this: “Do You Know My Jesus?”

If you don’t, allow me to play a clip that attempts to describe Jesus.  This is a clip that makes an attempt to describe Jesus to us using words that describe His character.  Take a look at this clip.

(PLAY THAT’S MY KING CLIP)

So, do YOU know Him?  Is He YOUR friend?

There are people sitting here today that don’t know Jesus as their friend.  Maybe they’ve been in church most of their lives, but they’ve gotten caught up in the ritual and presumed that was all there was to this.  They come each Sunday morning and sing the songs, pray the prayers, hear the preacher preach his message, and shake a hand or two.  And that means that they have done their “religious” thing for that week.  But once they leave the building, they haven’t experienced any closeness with Jesus at all.  They haven’t known the satisfaction of spending time with a Jesus they could actually call their friend.

And that’s a great tragedy, because Jesus really does want to be your friend.  He wants to carry your burdens.  He wants to have you spend regular time with Him.  The problem isn’t that Jesus doesn’t want to be your friend.  The problem is that some haven’t realized how important He can be in their lives.

Once again, in John 15:9-12 Jesus says, “1”

The first step to becoming His friend, is to accept Him into your life.  To believe that He is capable of being your closest friend because He is the Son of God.  To acknowledge that you’ve sinned, and you need His help and His friendship in your life.  To acknowledge that you want Him to be in charge of your life and to change into what He knows you’re capable of becoming.  And lastly to die to your past, to be buried in the waters of Christian baptism, and to rise up to a new life.

At the start of this sermon, I told you that sad story of a little girl who despised and rejected.  She wanted someone to love her so much that she went outside the walls of her orphanage and left a note on a tree that said: “To whoever finds this: I love you.”

The Bible tells us that Jesus “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.  He was despised and rejected by men.”  The people of His day sought to get rid of Him, so they took Him outside the walls of the city… and they nailed HIM to a tree.  But, to this day, when people come to that tree, they still find a note that reads, “To whoever finds this: I love you.”

Pray!